


A Father's Worry

by within_a_dream



Series: A Mother's Love [2]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantine Lives, Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2016-03-15
Packaged: 2018-05-26 22:04:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6257635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/within_a_dream/pseuds/within_a_dream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Valjean does his best to raise Cosette, although he feels anything but equipped to be a father</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Father's Worry

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bookmountains](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookmountains/gifts).



Jean Valjean often felt out of his depth with Cosette. He’d been so long in prison that he could barely remember how to speak to adults, much less children. When he first found her, the girl never spoke, and he felt that he should talk to her to fill the silence. His voice sounded rusty and worn in the silence of their rented rooms, but he soon grew used to speaking again.

Gradually, Cosette began to speak. Soon it was all he could do to get a word in edgewise—not that he minded. It had broken his heart to see this little girl so silent and solemn when he first took her in, and now that she’d put some meat on her bones and regained her confidence, she was barely recognizable as the scrawny little thing he’d taken from that godforsaken inn.

Life in the convent seemed to suit Cosette. It pleased Valjean to see her playing with girls her own age, rather than spending all of her waking hours talking to an old man. And she seemed to get along with her classmates for the most part, although occasionally difficulties arose.

Valjean couldn’t help but worry when Cosette came back from classes in tears, although he knew it was a normal part of childhood. On this particular day, as he always did, he sat her down and asked, “What’s the matter?”

Cosette sniffled. “You have to tell me about my mother. They asked me about my parents, and I told them I only had you, and Marguerite told me that I must have a mother, and if she left me alone she must not have loved me very much. She did love me, didn’t she?”

“Oh, darling.” He wrapped his arms around her, letting her cry into his shoulder. “Of course she did. Your mother loved you more than anything. She wouldn’t have left you if she had any other choice.”

“But why did she leave?”

How did you tell a child that her mother had been arrested for prostitution? Valjean decided to avoid the topic. “Your mother had to leave, to protect herself and to protect you. She would never have left you if she’d had any other choice, I can promise you that.”

Cosette’s mouth rounded into an _O_. “Will she come back?”

From his experiences in prison, Valjean had his doubts. “She will do everything in her power to find her way back to you.”

That seemed to satisfy her. He only wished he could give the poor girl her mother back, rather than these empty stories.

**Author's Note:**

> [Image Source](http://www.nationalgallery.ie/en/Collection/Irelands_Favourite_Painting/Leech_Final.aspx): "A Convent Garden, Brittany" by William John Leech. (It was painted about a century later than Les Mis is set, but I thought it was pretty enough to include anyway.)


End file.
